For Those of You Who Would Like to Know

This is for those of you who would like to know a little about me before I start posting. First of all I would like to say I am no pro at writing so you can keep your grammar, punctuation and spelling corrections to yourself. Starting with my childhood...I grew up in a family of 11. There are 9 kids including me. My Mother had 6 kids and we adopted 3 when I was 4 years old. The earliest memory I have is the day my 3 brothers walked downstairs and I met them for the first time. I don't remember a time without them and for that I'm grateful because I truly believe I was blessed with their presence in my life. We adopted my 3 brothers in 1997 from a tiny country in Europe called Moldova. My parent's had no intention to adopt more than one but when my Mom saw these 3 brothers together she knew in her heart they were her sons. It took a little while but in August of 1997 my family was made complete. After over 22 great but not-so-easy years I wouldn't trade a single family member for anything. And that's the truth.

I grew up in what some of you might see as your average LDS family household. We went to church on Sunday, we had family night occasionally when life slowed down, we read scriptures and said prayer on most nights. My parents love the gospel but we were by no means perfect. We did other things as well. We all played sports, went to school, fought with each other and worked our butts off every Saturday and almost every day in the summer so we could earn privileges to play with our friends. The reason I mentioned my LDS faith first is not by chance. My religion is the center of my life. I am so proud of that. My religion makes me better, it makes me happier. It makes me a better wife, mother and contributing member of society. Despite what some may think about LDS doctrine and principle, this gospel teaches me to love everyone unconditionally, to forgive unconditionally, and to be the best possible version of me. I strive every day to be the person my Heavenly Father knows I can be and I'm sorry to say that I probably fail more times than I succeed. But hey, nobody is perfect. I was not brainwashed or conditioned into believing the things I believe. I was not forced in any way, shape or form. I have, in fact, had serious doubts of my own and explored my spirituality in search of the truth on multiple occasions.

The most prominent occasion where my faith wavered was the year I lost my Mom. I had just turned 16 and was starting my junior year of High School in less than a week. I will get more into this in another post...but my faith was most definitely tried as I was angry at God for taking my Mom away from me. In short, I chose to overcome that anger and turn to my Heavenly Father. He lifted me up. He got me through some of the darkest times and still gets me through the rough days even after I was so awful and ungrateful for so long. That is a fact and is not up for debate. This is my truth, my KNOWLEDGE.

Anyway, on to some lighter subject material. Due to this unfortunate event and some others...I was forced to grow up a little faster than planned. I married the love of my life less than 2 months after I turned 18. His name is Braiden and wow I love him. Best thing that ever happened to me. He is hardworking, determined, confident in all he does, and a worthy priesthood holder. He always has me either laughing or rolling my eyes haha. I won't lie and say that marriage is blissful and easy. Actually, the greatest part about it is that we both love each other enough to face the trying and uncomfortable situations that come our way. "Come what may, and love it."People always ask me if I regret getting married as young as I did...nope. Honestly... I regret that my Mom had to die and I was ready for this grown up life quicker than originally planned but it was the best thing for me to get married when I did and I have never once doubted that.

Last paragraph I promise...4 years later and we have been blessed with the 2 most beautiful children there ever were. Seriously. We love them. My daughter Josie came on March 18, 2014...also my Angel Mother's birthday. She is sweet, so smart, beautiful, hilarious, interactive, outgoing, affectionate, imaginative and extremely important to me. I know us Mom's say it a lot...but it's true that you never know how much you can love someone until you have a child. My son Nixon came on April 11, 2015. Whoops. Not planned but such a blessing because he is pretty awesome. His personality is just starting to come out but he is also affectionate, smart, beautiful and ridiculously hyperactive. He is my momma's boy and I love it. It is not possible to love these kids more than I do. It completely consumes and overwhelms me at times. I wonder how I got so lucky. I hear that children in heaven get some sort of say in their parents. If that's so...I feel so honored and blessed because these are some special souls. Well... that's me and my simple life. Now that life has slowed down a little bit I will try to keep this updated at least somewhat regularly. Thanks for reading if you made it!